Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College held a three-point lead with just three more points needed for victory Friday night, but King University won the last six points to claim the five-set Conference Carolinas match, 25-23, 25-27, 17-25, 25-19, 15-12.
The King comeback ruined career nights for a trio of Barton players. Junior transfer Pierre Tang-Taye produced his Barton high of 21 kills and his first double-double after also collecting 10 digs. Senior Mike McMahon delivered a career-high 24 digs, and sophomore setter Federico Pagliara added a career-high 17 digs to his 50 assists.
Four of the final five points for the Tornado (4-2, 3-1) came on successful blocks of Barton attacks. King had a total of 17 team blocks in the match, twice as many as the Bulldogs. Nick Drooker had a total of nine solo and assisted blocks in the match while Adrian Besson added six block assists, including the final three.
Not only did the Tornado have to storm back from a late deficit in the final frame, but it also had to come back from a 2-1 set deficit after Barton (2-7, 2-4) put together an impressive third set to take the match lead. The Bulldogs hit a game-high .367 in the middle frame, led by seven kills from Jonathan Novoa-Miralles, and commanded a lead of at least six points for much of the set.
However, King turned the tables on the Bulldogs in the fourth set, jumping out to a quick 6-1 lead and never letting Barton challenge. The Bulldogs, which hit well over .200 in the first three frames, managed just .030 in the fourth set and .038 in the final game.
Barton started out the fifth and final set strong, using kills by Pierre Tang-Taye and Chad Stanback Jr. along with two King attack errors, to jump out to a 4-1 cushion.
Seven times King cut the deficit to two, but seven times the Bulldogs responded with a point to move back up by three, the last of those on a strong play by Stanback, who drilled an attack down the line just inside the back right corner to put Barton up 12-9.
However, the Tornado used Eddie Moushikhian's team-high 19th kill of the night to cut the deficit to two for an eighth time, and this time finally two points in a row when Moushikhian blocked a Bulldog attack to shave the Barton lead down to one at 12-11.
Drooker and Besson followed with consecutive blocks to put King into the lead for the first time in the set at 13-12, and Barton was called for a net violation to put the Tornado on match point before Besson and Moushikhian completed the comeback with yet another block.
In addition to Moushikhian's strong play, King received a double-double of 15 kills and 12 digs from Stephen Brown, as well as 15 digs from Chandler Wellmann, including a pivotal one late in the first set to help the Tornado rally in that frame after Barton led 23-21.
The Bulldogs will attempt to end a losing streak that has now reached five matches with a win in Saturday's 2 p.m. contest at Lees-McRae College.
